Alot of the aftermarket hoods are fiberglass, borrowing from the car audio section its not that difficult with a little ingenuity to work fiberglass. I was wondering if anyone has ever made their own fiberglass hood and or other body parts, like grounds and so forth. Id like to make a ram air hood in about a month or so, the reason i dont wanna get one thats already for sale is i wanna imprint the firebird logo on it and have the holes for the ram air be the birds tail feathers... What is the major thing to worry about when doing this?

 

Making the hood weigh more than the steel one. This is easy to do when making custom stuff.

 

Making the hood weigh more than the steel one. This is easy to do when making custom stuff.

 

Why would it have to weigh more than the steel one?

 

he's not saying for you to make it weigh more... he is saying that when you are making a custom hood, u can easily and accidentally make it weigh more than the stock hood... in other words... don't make it weigh more than stock...

 

You would have to pay very close attention to cross braces and general structural engineering to duplicate the hood out of glass. Do not expect to just create a flat hood with many layers of glass and hope that it is even remotely strong.

Most aftermarket fiberglass hoods have been through many variations before getting the exact bracing right. How about this...create the substructure out of metal and then do just a fiberglass top layer and bond the two together...

This would give you greater strength and less weight while giving you the ability to customize the top portion.

Just a thought

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Carl
CarAudio Resources

 

Question, how strong does a hood have to be? If you don't have people sitting on it, it shouldn't be a problem. I know that if you get into a lot of wind buffeting it could crack.

On another note, I think it would be hard as hell to make a hood out of nothing. Maybe if you used the stock hood as a mold it would be easier, but by the time you got done with all those layers, it would probably be heavier than a steel hood. I'll be the first to admitt that I'm no good with glass, but when I put on my scoop I added about 10-15 lbs to the hood. I know this because it won't stay up by itself anymore. I really encourage creativity, but this sounds like a BIG job.

 

Actually I like the idea about getting a metal one and adding a layer on to it. it would have to be cut for the ram air but all in all that was a good idea... I might just look into doing this.

 

On my glass hood, the guy who made it recreated the stock understructure in fiberglass, except for where the raised cowl section is. My hood is not a lightweight, but is lighter than steel. I've had mine on since '92, and have had no problems with it structurally which I account to the understructure.

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'86 Camaro Sport Coupe & '88 IROC-Z

 

I am considering making my own facias, and hood, and tailight assembly for my 87 Formula. I am considering a look similar to the Ferrari 550 Maranello, with little touches of Pontiac styling. I have the matrials, just a matter of making the molds.

If you want to do a really pro job here is what you do:

Step 1) First you have to make a Mock part, whether it is made of Wood, fiberglass, whatever. Make it look EXACTLY the way you want. Make it extra heavy your not using this part anyway it does not matter, matter of fact the heaver and more stout you make it the better (will explain later). I will probably use my parts car to make sure everything fits right. Then you will need to paint it, and double make sure it is perfect.

Step 2) Once you have the mock-part just right, you will have to spray it with some sort of "Release agent". Take fiberglass and cover your mock part and make a mold, make it thick, re-inforce it with wood, etc. The Release agent does not stick to either part, therefore when you pull your molds apart it does not stick together.

Step 3) Lay up your fiberglass/carbon-fiber in the the new mold, let it set and whala, you have a new glass hood.

If you want to make Rubber facias you will have to make a male and female mold, skip step 3, and do the following

Rubber facias only: step 4) Once you have your female mold made of your facia, you will have to by a wax, I don't know the name of it, but it comes in sheets, it might be a bees-wax. you take it and lay it in your female mold, making sure you have good coverage. Then, take more fiberglass and make your male mold. Since its on the inside making it pretty is not necessary, you will more than likely have to figre a way to inject the urithane.

Remove the wax, inject your urithane and let cure.

Its alot of work, but I think the rewards of having something truely Custom/one of a kind will be worth it.

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Heck, I even thinking of selling a kit, to convert Firebirds over to a Ferrari look. Would include: Active Ram-air Hood for TPI or 4bbl/TBI, Front & rear bumper facias, Tailight assembly, with Ferrari style tailights, & Ferrari style (non-pop-up) headlights.

Of course all the parts would interchange with the stock parts, like the lines of the front facia would work with the stock hood, or vice-versa, Parts could be bought one at a time or all at once, etc...

I figure everything right now would be around $1000, but I am not making them yet and this is ONLY an estimate.

Anyone interested before I start?

John

 

Yea id be intrested... Once i get my car running mechanically sound. (im just ironing out financial things alot to do when you buy a car) and im gonna start working on cosmetics. I want something to make the car look different. I purposely chose the trans am i have because i liked the whole blue on grey grounds but i wanna take it a step further... Of course this depends on what your stuff looks like...

 

Well, ONLY TIME will tell, Like I said, not even started, I think it will be next summer at the VERY eraliest, IF I do it at all. Got a great Girlfirend, and to tell you the truth she is taking up much of my time.

I WILL try and keep those folks interested informed when I start & so on...

John

 

ok cool. I know about the girlfriend thing believe me. i have the perfect girlfriend for me right now. and if im not working or in class im with her. (minus time to work on my trans am)haha.